


Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods

by Xie



Category: Queer as Folk (US), Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crack, Crossover, Ethan Gold Bashing, F/F, Fantasy, M/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-02
Updated: 2007-10-25
Packaged: 2018-12-26 17:58:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12064128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xie/pseuds/Xie
Summary: Sequel toJustin and Gabrielle in a Bottle.





	1. Chapter 1

  
Author's notes:

No ancient Greek gods were harmed in the writing of this chapter.

* * *

  
  


**Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter One**  
By Xie

Justin settled his ass more firmly into Brian’s lap, and stuck his tongue even further into Brian’s mouth. Brian was clutching at Justin’s shaggy blond locks with desperate fingers, sucking on Justin’s tongue with the frenzy of a starving man offered food.

Brian tried to get his breath, but Justin’s tongue was obstructing his esophagus, so he had to break away for oxygen. Justin tipped his head back, his arms locked around Brian’s neck, and Brian saw his pale throat, marked with the still-healing scar left by the tip of Callisto’s knife. Seeing it gave him a strange pang in this chest, and he resolved again to consult his doctor about this recurrent heartburn he’d been experiencing, no doubt due to stress, and possibly the excessive consumption of coffee.

Justin looked at Brian’s face, and saw the haunted look in his eyes. He gently stroked Brian’s hair and kissed his forehead. “What’s wrong, Brian?”

Brian shook his head, and grinned at Justin, glad the blond teen was easily distracted. “Nothing getting my dick up your ass in the next four seconds won’t fix.”

It worked, and a few minutes later, Brian was walking towards the bedroom, Justin’s arms around his neck, his legs wrapped around his waist.

**___________________**

“Xena?”

“Mmmdghiohoh?” The brunette architect’s voice was thick with sleep.

“Xena, the sun’s been up for hours, are you just going to sleep all day?” Gabrielle’s voice was happy and full of energy. Xena contemplated having her bound and gagged.

A thought that actually woke her up quite thoroughly.

Xena sat up and squinted at the blonde standing at the foot of the bed. Gabrielle’s short hair was freshly washed, due to her obsession with the wonders of modern plumbing. She was wearing a short brown suede skirt, brown cowboy boots, and a rust colored, midriff-baring tank top.

Xena once again felt a large number of her brain cells become fully alert. “Good morning.”

Gabrielle glanced at the floor to ceiling windows of Xena’s spacious modern loft. “It’s almost noon.”

“Like I said, good morning.” Xena got out of bed, and stood in front of Gabrielle, naked.

Gabrielle looked up at Xena’s face, then down to Xena’s full breasts, then back up to Xena’s face. She threw her arms around Xena’s neck, stood on her toes, and kissed her. “Good morning.”

The next thing the blonde knew, all her clothing was thrown all over the room, her boots had knocked the bedside lamp off the stand, and she was clutching at fistfuls of Xena’s long, dark hair.

It really was, she thought to herself, a good morning.

**___________________**

****Later that day, Gabrielle was sitting in the kitchen, drinking orange juice and eating French toast smothered in syrup, with a side of microwaved sausage. “I can’t believe,” she said, her mouth full, “that this method of cooking can possibly be safe. It just doesn’t seem possible to fully cook food without heat. My mother always taught me…”

Xena refilled her coffee cup, and looked with disgust at the plate of food in front of Gabrielle. “Gabrielle, didn’t your mother ever teach you not to talk while you chew?”

Gabrielle stared at Xena. “No.”

Xena sighed. “I didn’t think so. So, what are you doing today, that got you up so early?”

Gabrielle swallowed, then speared a little more sausage and put it in her mouth. “I’m going to Brian’s loft and teaching Justin some relaxation techniques.”

Xena sighed. “He still won’t leave the loft?”

Gabrielle shook her head. “Not unless Brian’s with him. And not just with him, but practically wrapped around him. I met them at the diner the other day, and Justin almost passed out when someone bumped into him.”

The two women sat there and contemplated Justin’s severe post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by being thrown out of the house by his parents when they found out he was gay, then being drugged and kidnapped by a corrupt police official and his psychotic, immortal assistant, who activated an ancient spell to put Justin in a bottle with Gabrielle, and then used Justin in a ritual sacrifice intended to destroy Xena. Although rescued at the last minute by the three of them, and safe now in Brian’s loft, the boy had some issues.

**___________________**

****Justin sat in the booth at the diner, and didn’t lift his eyes from the table. Gabrielle had come by that afternoon, and he’d felt a little more confident after she’d helped him with some breathing exercises she said she’d learned in India. He tried not to think about the fact that she’d learned them two thousand years ago. He’d seen her use them when they were stuck in the bottle, but he’d never tried them himself. They helped.

Feeling better, he’d agreed to go out when Brian asked. Right now, Brian’s friends Lindsay and Melanie, the mothers of Brian’s son, Gus, were sitting across from him. Brian was next to him, his hand on his back, making small, soothing circles. He was holding Justin’s other hand in his.

Justin’s breathing was shallow, and he was very pale. Brian folded his lips inward as he watched the teen try to tell Melanie about how he’d been thrown out of his family’s home when his father found out he was gay.

“Then he said he was going to send me to one of those reprogramming places, where they give you electric shock and try to change you to straight.” Even though his voice was shaking, for the first time Brian saw a hint of anger under the surface. “I read about them on the Internet. Parents put their kids there, and the kids can’t get any mail or make contact with anyone outside the place. It’s like being tortured and brainwashed. And he said I had a choice: Go to this place, or never come home again.” Justin bit his lip, and steadfastly didn’t look at anyone.

Lindsay had a tear in her eye as she reached across the table to pat Justin’s arm consolingly. But the blond flinched away even from her motherly touch. She and Melanie looked at each other, and Mel’s eyes softened.

“Justin, I’m going to do my best to get you declared an emancipated minor, but you have to be able to show you can support yourself. Debbie says they can give you a job here at the diner, busing tables, as soon as you’re feeling up to it…” and here her eyes met Brian’s, and he shrugged helplessly… “And it might be best if we said you were living with Debbie, too.”

Justin’s head snapped up. “Why can’t I stay with Brian?” His fingers tightened on Brian’s.

“No, no, Justin, you can stay with Brian. We might make it look like you’re staying with Deb, just while we go through the hearing. Okay?” Melanie looked worried.

Justin nodded, catching his full lower lip in his white teeth. He told himself not to cry. He had to tell himself that every day, and every night, too, when the dreams came.

Brian shifted in the seat next to Justin. The teen had been fearful and clung to him from the day he’d brought him home from the hospital, but in some ways he was worse, not better. Justin was afraid to talk to a shrink, knowing that there were parts of his story that no one who hadn’t seen them would believe – in fact, Brian had seen them and he almost didn’t believe them. But Brian was sure that Justin needed more help than he knew how to give him.

When they got home, Brian went to the computer, while Justin went into the bedroom to lie down.

Brian stared at the computer screen, looking at a page full of search results on PTSD. He started reading.

**___________________**

It had taken Gabrielle a while to find someone who could re-create her Amazon fighting staff. Xena had finally found a craftsman who did custom work for the local Renaissance Pleasure Faire, and he was happy to sit and chat with Gabrielle about her adventures in Elizabethan England. He didn’t seem to find her stories in any way unusual. Xena pinched the bridge of her nose, and tried to will her headache away.

Xena had taken Gabrielle to her gym, and the blonde bard had been enraptured with the wide variety of equipment available to help her hone her fighting skills and enhance her already world-class set of abdominal muscles. One day she’d coaxed Justin into coming with her, and showed him some of the most basic self-defense moves she’d learned from the Amazons.

Justin was sitting on the exercise mat on the floor of the gym, rubbing his damp face with a towel, when a bottle of water appeared in front of his face. Thinking it was Gabrielle, he grabbed it, and took a drink. Suddenly a man stepped into view. Justin looked up… and up… and up, his eyes traveling past long, muscled legs in black sweat pants bunched at the crotch, to a rippling abdomen straining the fabric of a tight black tank top, to a chiseled face with dark, hungry eyes under short-cropped, dark hair.

 Justin felt his pupils dilate with fear, and his face grow pale, but the man just looked concerned, and crouched down next to the teen. “Are you okay? Can I get you something, help you up?”

Justin looked into the man’s eyes, then blushed and looked away. “No, thank you, I’m fine. I thought you were Gabrielle.”

The man’s eyes flashed oddly for a moment, but Justin decided he’d imagined it when they crinkled up with a smirk a second later. “That’s the first time I’ve been mistaken for a girl.”

Justin blushed again, taking in the muscles roping down the man’s arms. “Thanks for the water.”

The man smiled, and stood up. “My name’s Erik.”

“I’m Justin.” He blushed yet again.

“See you around.” The man – Erik – walked off.

Gabrielle came back a minute later. “Who was that man you were talking to?”

Justin shrugged. “Some guy, he gave me a bottle of water.”

“Hmmm. Well, okay, let’s try that one flip again, okay?”

**___________________**

Brian was glad Justin had gone to the gym with Gabrielle. It was the only place he’d gone without Brian since he’d gotten out of the hospital. Maybe because she’d helped save his life, maybe because of the time they’d spent in the bottle together, Justin seemed to trust her.

Brian pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, stuffed his workout clothes in his bag, and headed for his gym. He’d been feeling a little slack lately. And having Justin in the loft all the time, waking up every night to find the boy in the grip of a nightmare, having Justin not able to go anywhere without him – not even to walk down the street – was getting a little claustrophobic. And although Brian wasn’t complaining, being the recipient of all the pent-up sexual energy of a teenaged boy who had been kept in a state of enforced virginity by a spell cast by a psychotic god was almost enough to wear even him out.

Almost.

Brian’s arms were shaking with strain as he pressed the weights upwards. Just when he was almost at the top, he saw a strong pair of hands in leather weight lifting gloves slip around the bar. He glanced back and saw a tall, dark haired man, built like a Greek god, grinning at him.

Brian didn’t smile back. “If I needed help, I’d have asked for it.”

The man looked like he was going to laugh, but at the last minute, he didn’t. “Sorry. It looked like you could use a hand. I should have known you’d never take on more than you could handle.”

The guy walked away, and Brian shook his head. Asshole. But hot. Definitely hot. He gave one last heave and set the weights in the rack, and headed for the shower. And wondered, what did the guy mean, he should have known? Brian had never seen him before. He was sure of that.

**__________________**

Later that night, the man who’d introduced himself to Justin as “Erik” walked into a large, dark room on the top floor of an old warehouse down near the river. He threw himself casually across a throne-like upholstered chair, and grinned insolently at the woman sitting at a table across from him.

“Well?” she growled at him.

His grin widened, and he swung his leg over the arm of the chair. “I found the humans. The boy was as easy to read as a child lost in the woods.” He leered at the memory of Justin’s fair skin blushing when he smiled at him. Then he shook his head. Time enough for that later. “Gabrielle was nearby, but I didn’t see her. But he mentioned her name. I’m close. And the other human, he had the feel of Xena about him, but I didn’t see any sign of her. As long as Xena and her irritating little blonde keep mixing with these predictable mortals, it’s only a matter of time until we track them down.”

Alti smiled in the dim light at Ares. “And when you do, you’ll have your powers back. Until then, keep hunting.”

Ares stood up, towering over the woman, who looked at him without fear. “Yes. My godly powers. Finally, after all these centuries, to feel that rush again. To stand at the head of an army. To conquer. To vanquish. To rule.”

Ares laughed and strode from the room. Alti watched him go. Her rough voice was just a whisper. “To destroy.”


	2. Chapter 1

  
Author's notes: No primeval bonds of karmic destiny were broken in the writing of this chapter.  


* * *

  
  


**Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter Two**  
By Xie  
  
Justin woke up early the morning of his emancipated minor hearing. He hadn't slept for more than one uninterrupted hour in a week, and there were dark circles of exhaustion discoloring the skin under his deep blue eyes.   
  
The boy turned carefully on his side, trying not to wake Brian. The older man had been waking with Justin every night, soothing his panic and chasing away the nightmares.   
  
Justin bit his lip when he saw how, even in sleep, the lines of worry marred Brian's perfect brow. His hand reached to touch him, but he drew it back. Let him sleep, he told himself.  
  
Quietly he slid from under the duvet, and made his way to the living area, where he sat on the sofa. With a sigh, he tucked his knees under his chin, and stared blankly out the window, watching the sun rise, waiting for the moment when his fate would be decided.  
  
Brian opened his eyes, and felt a moment's panic when he didn't see Justin. He got up, and made his way out to the living area, and saw him asleep on the sofa, his bare feet pulled up under him, his cheek resting on his hand. He once more sternly reminded himself to consult his physician about his heartburn or gastric reflux, or whatever was causing this strange burning sensation in his chest.  
  
He sat down next to Justin, and gently woke him.  
  
The teen's golden lashes flew open, and he stared blankly at the back of the sofa before swiveling his cerulean orbs to look at Brian. Immediately, his feeling of terror subsided.   
  
"Hey."   
  
Brian felt his own face break into a smile in response to the sunshine spreading over Justin's. "Hey."  
  
Justin sat up, and Brian automatically shifted so their arms were entwined, and bumped noses with the boy.   
  
Justin yawned a little. "What time is it?"  
  
Brian kissed his nose. Maybe that bump had hurt. You never know. "Time to get ready to go."  
  
The ad exec and the teen showered together, and when Brian felt the nervousness start to suffuse Justin's body again, he let his soapy hands gently soothe the tight muscles, especially the ones located at the opening to Justin's ass. Whatever works, he thought as he slid his finger inside the tight ring.  
  
Justin braced his hands on the slippery shower wall, and let his head fall back onto Brian's shoulder. He focused all his awareness on the feel of the man's finger on the little bundle of nerves deep inside him, and the pleasure radiating out from it. He dimly heard Brian opening a condom packet, and a few seconds later felt the head of Brian's cock pressing carefully but firmly against his opening.  
  
As Brian slid inside Justin, he let all his worries about the hearing, about Justin's family and what they might do, all the ugly visions – of  Justin tied naked to Callisto's altar, his life blood slowly seeping away, Brian helpless to do anything – all fade from his consciousness. The only thing that's real, he thought, is this boy, his wet skin, his tight ass, his blue eyes, his soft hair…  
  
Brian thrust into Justin again and again, stroking the boy's prostate, holding off his orgasm until he knew Justin was ready. He took the blond teen's hard cock in his hand, and started to stroke in time with his thrusts. He felt Justin's ass tighten on his cock, and his own come started flowing into the condom buried deep inside him, just as Justin's come spurted out against the shower wall.  
  
Brian stood there, leaning heavily against Justin, his hand covering Justin's against the shower wall.  
  
____________________________________  
  
Gabrielle shifted in her seat, wondering where Justin was. The hearing was supposed to start in a few minutes, and he hadn't arrived. His lawyer was talking in a low voice on her cell phone, and didn't look happy.   
  
Xena put her hand on Gabrielle's thigh, and silently wished the young woman would stop turning around every two minutes. It was exhausting just sitting next to her.  
  
Finally, Justin walked in, Brian right behind him. The teen was pale and had his full lower lip caught in his teeth, but he walked steadily into the room. At the last minute, Brian stopped, and stood watching as Justin joined his lawyer. When Justin sat down at the table, the tall ad exec lowered himself into a front row seat, without ever taking his eyes off the blond.  
  
Justin looked around the courtroom, then wished he hadn't. Just as he'd feared, his parents were sitting on the other side, both staring at him. He felt the color flood from his face, and dragged his eyes away from them.   
  
Melanie put her hand on his arm, and gently squeezed it. "Stay focused, Justin."  
  
He nodded, but kept biting his lip.  
  
Gabrielle watched the exchange, and found herself gnawing her own lip. She wasn't sure, but from Justin's reaction, she thought the man and woman on the right side of the courtroom were probably his parents. She knew Justin had hoped the hearing would be routine, and that his family wouldn't get involved.  
  
Xena leaned down and whispered to the blonde, "Are those his parents?"   
  
"I think so," Gabrielle whispered back. "Poor Justin."  
  
Xena nodded. "And poor Brian."  
  
Gabrielle sighed, and wished she had her staff.  
  
When the judge came in, everyone stood up. It looked for a moment like Brian wouldn't, but in the end, he got to his feet briefly, then sat down just as quickly.  
  
The judge read through the papers on his desk, and then nodded at Melanie. The brunette attorney stood up, and stated Justin's request to be made an emancipated minor. "Your honor, as you can see, the young man is more than 17 years old, was already living outside his family's home, has a job and a stable living situation, and desires to have his legal status formally recognized."  
  
The judge nodded. "Are the parents here?"  
  
A sandy-haired man stood up. "We are, sir."  
  
The judge glanced at the man, who tugged the hand of a blonde woman sitting next to him. She stood up. "I'm his mother, we're both here."  
  
"Do you have anything to say in response to your son's petition?"  
  
Justin's father cleared his throat. "I'm Craig Taylor, and yes, I do. We did not make our son leave our home. He ran away, when we asked him to attend a residential counseling program for troubled youth. He has a history of deviant behavior and self control issues, and we feel this program is the best place for him. We oppose any effort to make him a legal adult, and insist the court allow us to care for our son as we judge best." He and his wife sat down, both avoiding making eye contact with Justin.  
  
The boy went paler than he'd ever been before, and whispered frantically to Melanie, who nodded. "Your honor," she said, "The Taylors were not seeking to get their son help for behavior problems, they were attempting to send him against his will to a locked down facility to attempt to change his sexual orientation – an effort that is, in addition to being contrary to Justin's basic human rights, entirely futile. Justin has no desire to have his sexual orientation changed, even if such a thing were humane and possible."  
  
She went on. "He also disputes his parents' account of the circumstances under which he left home. His father told him he had a choice: Leave our house, or enter the conversion program. Justin made the only choice he could, and left. We believe that only the publicity following Justin's imprisonment and near-death caused his parents to experience social embarrassment, and make an attempt to assert control over their son again. We seek only to have the court recognize what has already happened, and declare him legally emancipated."  
  
Craig Taylor jumped to his feet, a vein throbbing in his forehead, his eyes wild. "That's a lie! We have always wanted to help Justin, to make him see the light about his disgusting lifestyle, to set him free from this confusion…"  
  
The judge held up his hand, and Justin's mother tugged on his arm until he fell silent. "Young man?"  
  
All eyes turned to Justin, who paled and then flushed. But he got to his feet. He was aware of Brian's eyes boring into his back, and he tried to let that make him strong.  
  
"I'm sorry I'm not the son my parents want, but I'm who I want to be. I'm gay. I don't believe it's possible to change that, nor do I want to change it." Justin stopped, and licked his lips. "Especially not in a place where I'm cut off from all contact with everyone and given electric shock treatments." And he sat down.  
  
There was absolute silence in the courtroom after Justin's statement. Brian had his eyes locked on the judge, wishing he had powers of mind control so he could make the man rule in Justin's favor.  
  
Maybe he did, because after a few minutes, the judge gestured towards the lawyers and told them to approach. After a whispered conference, a smile broke out on Mel's face, and she turned and made sure Justin saw it. Brian felt the vise that had been locked around his neck loosen, and sat back against his chair.  
  
Gabrielle wasn't sure what was going on, and hissed to Xena, "What happened?"  
  
Xena shrugged. "His lawyer looks happy, it must be good."  
  
And it was. The judge accepted Justin's petition, declared him an emancipated minor, and dismissed everyone.  
  
But the Taylors apparently didn't accept his decision with much grace, because Craig was dragged out of the courtroom by his wife, yelling and shaking his fist at Brian. "You pervert, you turned my son against me! If you think you're going to get away with this, you've got another thing coming!"  
  
Brian ignored the man, and focused on getting as close to Justin as he could without actually touching him. He knew the boy was close to the breaking point from all the well-wishers crowding around him. Brian caught Gabrielle's eye over everyone's heads, and raised his eyebrows.  
  
The diminutive blonde pushed forward suddenly, creating a path directly to Justin. She firmly gripped his arm, and steered him to the door, effectively preventing anyone from touching him.   
  
Brian followed in admiration, wondering exactly how such a tiny woman had such a big impact on the people around her.  
  
Xena joined them on the front steps of the courthouse, and the three of them hustled Justin past the TV cameras. His parents were surrounded by reporters and were earnestly telling their story, and it was all Brian could do not to go punch Craig Taylor in the face. Instead, he slid into the back of Xena's car, still not touching Justin until they were far from the cameras. Then he pulled him tightly into his arms, feeling Justin tremble against him.  
  
Brian wished he had punched Craig after all.  
  
_____________________  
  
That night, everyone went to Babylon to celebrate Justin's victory. Brian wasn't sure that returning to the scene of his kidnapping was a good idea, but Justin seemed determined to go. Brian resolved not to let the boy out of his sight, and preferably, not out of his arms.  
  
Justin visibly flinched when they passed through the chain curtain that separated the entrance from the dance floor, but Brian's arm, thrown with deceptive casualness over his shoulder, calmed him.   
  
Brian leaned down so his mouth was close to Justin's ear. "There they are." He gestured with his free hand towards the bar, where Xena, Gabrielle, Melanie, and Lindsay were laughing and tossing back jello shooters.  
  
When they joined the lesbians, Justin noticed that Gabrielle's cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were sparkling. I wonder, he thought to himself, if she's drunk.  
  
Xena seemed to be wondering the same thing, staring in a combination of perplexity and infatuation as Gabrielle told a long, rambling story to Mel and Lindz. She stopped talking, though, when she saw Justin.  
  
"Justin!" The blonde hurtled herself into his arms. "Congratulations! I'm not exactly sure what happened today, but it's wonderful, isn't it?" She gave him a big kiss on the cheek, which he surreptitiously wiped away when she turned to greet Brian.  
  
Justin stood next to the bar, Brian behind him, the older man's arms around him, making him feel safe even in the crowded, noisy club. Brian tightened his hold on Justin, and bent towards his ear again. "Do you want to dance?"  
  
Justin thought for a minute, then nodded, and followed his tall lover onto the dance floor.   
  
Brian knew Justin was nervous, and decided to use the method of calming him that hadn't failed him yet: Sex. He kept his arms around Justin's shoulders, his hands cupping the back of Justin's neck. He let his thigh press into Justin's crotch, and bent his knees so he could nibble at Justin's shell-like ear.  
  
Justin was floating. His victory in court, Brian's arms around him in front of everyone, and now this sensual onslaught on the dance floor, all combined to make him euphoric. He tipped his head back, feeling the beat of the music wash over him. Brian's tongue was on his throat, laving the spot where Callisto's knife had cut him, flickering over his pulse point.  
  
They danced until Justin was clinging to Brian with exhaustion, and the ad exec shepherded the teen back to the bar. He bought him a bottle of water, and hovered until he replenished his lost fluids. Then Brian looked around, thinking he needed to get rid of some excess fluids of his own. He needed to piss.  
  
Melanie and Lindsay were still at the bar, and he left Justin in their care while he went to the men's room. As he headed for the back of the club, he saw Xena and Gabrielle dancing on the far side of the crowded floor. Gabrielle, he thought, really knew how to move. And Xena was … tall.  
  
Lindsay beamed at her wife and at Justin. "I'm so happy for you," she cried, kissing his cheek. She turned to Melanie. "And so proud of you!"  
  
Justin smiled at the two women, and wondered again how Brian came to have a child with Lindsay. He resolved to get the ad exec to tell him the story soon. Just then, a man stepped up to the bar next to him, and ordered a beer. Justin recognized him as Erik from Gabrielle's gym.  
  
Erik took the beer from the bartender, took a long pull on it, and then suddenly noticed Justin next to him. He smiled, a slightly mocking glint in his dark eyes. Justin blushed.   
  
"So, do I still remind you of your girlfriend, what was her name?"  
  
Justin swallowed. "Gabrielle. And no, not at all. She's short, and blonde, and you're… tall. And…" he swallowed again. "Dark."  
  
The man leaned against the bar, and turned towards Justin. He put one finger on Justin's hair, then moved it away. "You're blond, too."  
  
Feeling unsure, Justin just nodded. Erik scanned the crowd, took another drink of his beer, and then glanced back at Justin. He admired the boy's smooth skin, the deep blue of his eyes, the golden lashes with bits of glitter still caught in them. He glanced down at the boy's ass, and felt a tightening in his groin. Nice. Very nice. He turned all the way towards the boy.  
  
"So, your friend, Gabrielle? Is she your trainer?"  
  
Justin hesitated. "In a way. She's teaching me self-defense."  
  
Erik choked on his beer, and Justin looked at him in concern. "Are you okay?"  
  
The man put his beer down on the counter. "I'm fine. It's just that I run a martial arts studio, and we're looking for teachers, especially women. A lot of women who study self-defense learn best from other women. You should bring your friend by."  
  
Justin brightened. He knew Gabrielle wanted some kind of work, and he thought teaching other young women to defend themselves would be perfect for her. He took Erik's card and promised to give it to Gabrielle, just as Brian came back.  
  
Brian couldn't believe it when he looked towards the bar and saw Justin chatting with the dark handsome stranger from the gym. What the fuck? He understood it even less when he saw Justin accept the man's card. He strode up to the boy, and slid his arm around his shoulders.  
  
Justin glowed up at Brian, and let his most radiant sunshine smile light his face. "Hey."  
  
"Hey." Brian bent down and kissed Justin's lips, pulling their luscious fullness into his mouth, and biting a little at the lower one. Justin melted against him, and started kissing Brian's throat.  
  
Brian met the dark man's eyes over Justin's blond head, letting his own eyes say what he'd never put into words: Mine.  
  
The man's eyes narrowed. His powerful neck flexed, and his strong hands clenched, just for a second. Then a mask descended over his features, and he turned and walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

  
Author's notes: Threesome warning in this chapter. Sort of. Not really. But in a way. You'll see.  


* * *

  


**Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter Three**  
By Xie  
  
Ares, the God of War, was dreaming.  
  
It wasn't a dream of battle, or his former days of glory. It wasn't a dream of vengeance, or of blood.  
  
Instead, he was standing in an unfamiliar room. The ceiling was high, and its centerpiece was a huge bed, raised up like an altar. It was lit from below, casting an eerie radiance on Ares' naked body, and the slender, pale body of the blond boy on his hands and knees in front of him. The boy's face was like porcelain, his lashes golden, his eyes deep oceanic blue.  
  
Ares felt his steel-hard cock slide into the velvet tunnel of the boy's throat. He gripped the silken hair in his fists, the corded muscles in his powerful arms straining, and fucked his face ruthlessly – and in time with the thrusts of the man kneeling on the bed behind the boy. A man with dark hair and sardonic eyes, who was gripping the boy's hips so hard his knuckles were white. Who was thrusting into him, his face flickering with ecstasy.   
  
The man's eyes, though, were locked on Ares' eyes. They didn't close or waver, not even once. Not many men, Ares thought to himself as he felt the boy's lips sliding up and down on his hard cock, could hold the unbroken gaze of the God of War, especially while he was also fucking what was apparently, based on the expression of bliss on his face, the tightest, sweetest ass in Pittsburgh. The man's hips thrust slowly, deeply, into the boy, who pushed himself back onto the man's cock every time Ares thrust forward into his mouth. The man looked at Ares, and his lips formed something halfway between a smile and a sneer.  
  
Ares wanted to look down at the boy's mouth, to see those full lips sliding up and down on him, but he literally couldn't. Those hazel orbs held him a prisoner as surely as that mouth did. They bore into him, cool and hot at the same time, taunting him with his possession of the boy shuddering between them, pale skin shimmering in a haze of sweat.  
  
Ares fought to keep his eyes open as his orgasm built, and he knew from the smirk on the man's face that he saw Ares' struggle. The god felt anger boil up in him with the heat inside his balls, felt his jaw tighten, the muscles in his thighs lock, his abdomen clench, as that wet throat closed around him and he overflowed inside the boy, coming and coming.   
  
Those eyes never left him, not even when the man's hips slammed one last time into the boy's ass, and the two of them climaxed together, the boy's head pulling away from Ares cock while he desperately moaned out the man's name.  
  
Ares fell more deeply into slumber, his uneasy dream fading away. The last thing he remembered seeing in his dream was the light in the man's eyes as the boy moaned his name.  
  
"Brian…."  
  
____________________________  
  
Brian and Justin stirred against each other in the big bed in the loft. Brian woke up, hearing his name echoing in his ears. His cock was hard and pulsing against Justin's thigh, and before he even woke up fully, he was turning the boy in his arms, spreading his thighs with his knees, reaching for a condom and the lube.  
  
Justin shivered under him, and turned his head, his eyes opening, scrambling to his knees under Brian. "Fuck me," he hissed. "Fuck me, Brian."  
  
Brian entered him slowly, but without any preparation. He slid in easily, feeling the tightness and heat that was Justin welcoming him. He tried to hold back a little, to make it good for Justin, but the teen pushed back against him forcefully, then sat up, falling back against Brian, sinking onto his lap.  
  
Brian threw his head back and groaned, as Justin raised and lowered himself on Brian's cock. Brian was clutching Justin's hips, but he moved one hand toward the boy's cock, only to have it pushed away.  
  
Justin was biting his lower lip and breathing rapidly, his eyes half closed, his blond hair brushing Brian's face and throat as he wantonly fucked himself on the older man. Brian gave up trying not to come, and let himself dissolve, disintegrate into Justin. He pulled his hips down hard into him, and Justin gave a hoarse cry and started coming, shooting all over the bed and the headboard, saying Brian's name over and over while he came.  
  
They fell to the bed, still shuddering, neither one sure what had happened. After a long time, just before he fell asleep, Brian carefully pulled out of Justin, discarded the condom, and tugged him into his arms.   
  
They slept without dreams.  
  
___________________________  
  
  
Gabrielle stretched luxuriously against Xena's warmth, reveling in the feel of high count Egyptian cotton linens against her bare skin.   
  
Xena mumbled and stuck her head under the pillow. Gabrielle pulled it away. Xena rolled over and pulled the blankets over her head.  
  
Gabrielle laughed and got up. She was in the tub, fragrant bubbles piled high around her, singing softly to herself, when Xena stumbled in to pee. The brunette architect glared at the happy naked blonde while she peed, then unceremoniously climbed into the tub, splashing water all over the bathroom floor.  
  
Gabrielle grinned and let Xena settle back against her, feeling the hot water and soapy bubbles making their skin slippery and soft. She hummed in her throat while she let her hands move soap suds over Xena's thighs and breasts, the older woman's long, dark hair floating on the surface of the water.  
  
Xena sighed. As much as she hated excessive cheerfulness in the morning, she had to admit she was developing a taste for morning baths.   
  
She wriggled her ass a little more firmly into Gabrielle's crotch, and leaned her head back. "What are you doing today?"  
  
Gabrielle let the water spill off her arms as she lifted them up, and draped them over Xena's shoulders. Her finger tips brushed Xena's nipples, peeking out just above the surface of the foamy water. "Justin's taking me to that martial arts studio that might be hiring a woman fighting instructor."  
  
Xena snorted, and Gabrielle gave a sharp tug to her hair. "Hey! I'm an Amazon, remember? Do you think I can't teach soft modern women how to protect themselves?"  
  
"Well," Xena said, pulling Gabrielle's hands to her breasts and arching into them, "If you can teach Justin, I guess soft modern women are no challenge."  
  
Gabrielle took a sharp bite out of Xena's neck.  
  
"Hey! That hurt!" Xena turned around, slopping even more water out of the tub, and knelt between Gabrielle's legs. "What did you do that for?'  
  
"That was mean. Justin's gotten a lot stronger. After all he went through, he's entitled to some understanding."  
  
"Fuck, between you and Brian, I'm surprised that boy's feet ever even touch the ground." The tall woman stayed kneeling between Gabrielle's legs, and she smiled at the younger woman. "I prefer the kind of blonde who can take care of herself."  
  
Gabrielle smiled at her sunnily. "That's good. Because that's the kind of blonde you've got." And she let her legs kick out, sliding under Xena's and sending the taller woman sprawling across her in the tub. Gabrielle grabbed the sides of Xena's face and kissed her, hard.  
  
Xena flipped over in the water, pulling Gabrielle on top of her as she turned. Their lips never broke apart, not even when Xena's hand stroked through the softness between Gabrielle's legs.  
  
Gabrielle strained against Xena's hand, and smiled up at her. She really, she thought, liked baths. A lot.  
__________________________  
  
Alti looked coolly at Ares across the table. The heavy drapes were drawn over the tall windows, giving the room the darkness of night even in the middle of the day. A candle guttered on the table.  
  
"What will you do with the boy?" She didn't really care what happened to him, but human disappearances could get messy. And this was the same boy who'd caused so much trouble with Callisto, damn that double-crossing psychotic bitch.  
  
Ares smiled. "I have plans for him." His meaning was unmistakable.  
  
Alti shook her head. "I always thought you liked your blondes female." She looked at him thoughtfully. "And your brunettes and redheads, too."  
  
The god shrugged. "In my experience, too much focus on the specific equipment can detract from the impact of the total package."  
  
Alti gave a hoarse laugh. "That boy is trouble. I sense it. Stay away from him."   
  
The godlike figure of Ares stood up, towering over Alti. She saw the glow of his powers around him, and mercilessly forced herself to see only the present. The glow dissipated instantly. Without speaking, he turned and left the room.  
  
As he went down the stairs, he amused himself by thinking about the things he'd do to Alti when he had his powers back. Although in his experience, even gods could get into trouble tangling with shamanesses, with their mystical mumbo-jumbo. So instead, he decided to amuse himself with imagining the games he'd play with Justin and Gabrielle when he had them.  
  
And have them he would. Soon.   
  
Ares entered the ground floor of the warehouse building. It had been seemingly converted to a martial arts studio, with a judicious use of Alti's shamanic magic and as little actual carpentry as they could get away with. Ares stood at the tall windows, watching the street, arms folded across his chest, waiting for the two blonds to appear.  
  
______________________  
  
Alti gazed into the darkness beyond the candle. Her mind roamed the pathways of karma, seeking the thread that bound her destiny to Xena's. It was that thread she intended to cut with the sword of Gabrielle's life. In doing so, she might destroy this incarnation of Xena's life. She might destroy her own. She would certainly restore the God of War to his godly powers, turning him loose to wreak his willful vengeance on these times.   
  
But when she came back, she'd be at her full powers, nearly godlike herself – in some ways, beyond the gods, because her power was born of knowledge, which was harder to strip away than magic. And Xena would no longer be destined to destroy her in each life, the two of them no longer circling forever around each other in a fated, uneasy orbit.  
  
Free, Alti thought. Free. And if that freedom was bought with blood, all the better.  
  
________________________  
  
Justin and Gabrielle turned down the street towards the address Erik had given him at Babylon. They could see it at the end of the block, a wall of windows in a remodeled brick industrial building, looking somewhat out of place in the mostly abandoned neighborhood.  
  
Most of the buildings were empty, windows boarded, fire escapes rusted and hanging. It must, Justin thought, be slated for urban renewal, like the area where Brian's loft was.  
  
Gabrielle felt a little uneasy, and looked around. There wasn't anyone on the street, except for a young kid in a gray hooded shirt, his dirty hair straggling out from under the hood. She instinctively kept her eye on him as a possible threat. He was slight and young, but he walked with the confidence of a criminal in his own element. All her senses were alert.  
  
Just then, a group of three boys materialized from an alley near the boy in the gray shirt. They surrounded him, and he backed up, clearly getting ready to run if he could, and fight back if he couldn't. Gabrielle instinctively reached for her staff, which was back at Xena's loft, and sprinted across the street. She shifted her weight to her left leg, and brought her right leg up and kicked one of the boys away, then twirled around and repeated the move on a second. The third boy hesitated, then ran back down the alley.   
  
Gabrielle turned to the boy in the gray shirt, but he, too, was running down the alley. Suspicious, she was about to chase him, when she heard Justin calling her name from across the street. She spun around just in time to see him being pulled into a white vehicle, much larger than Brian or Xena's cars, and without any windows. A dark haired man, his face a battleground of scars and gouges, walking with a limp and carrying one arm awkwardly at his side, was climbing into the driver's side of the vehicle.  
  
Gabrielle raced back, but she was too late. The vehicle pulled away, tires making a terrible noise, and burning tracks into the road. She stood there, alone, bewildered.  
  
Who had taken Justin? And why? She turned and started running back towards Xena's loft, wishing she'd taken Xena's advice and learned to use one of those cell phones she was always clutching to her ear. At a time like this, Gabrielle thought as she ran through the street, that could come in handy.  
  
_______________________  
  
Ares stood in the street in front of the studio, watching Gabrielle disappear into the distance. He'd raced outside the minute the altercation had started, but at first it had seemed obvious Gabrielle, like the do-gooder irritating blonde she'd always been, was breaking up an attempted mugging.  
  
Then the white van had screeched up, and two men had grabbed Justin and thrown him in the back, and then taken off at top speed. Not even Ares had time to stop them, not without his powers.  
  
Who had taken Justin? Who had interfered with his plan?  
  
Whoever it was, Ares vowed, would pay. Once he had his godly powers back, they'd pay. And pay again.  
  
__________________________  
  
"What the fuck do you mean, disappeared?"   
  
Xena winced as Brian's voice cracked against her eardrum through the phone. She held it cautiously away while she answered.  
  
"Gabrielle said a van pulled up, two men grabbed him, and he vanished."  
  
Silence.  
  
"Brian?" Xena felt a headache starting at the base of her skull. Brian was fucking high maintenance.   
  
Then Brian spoke. "Son of a bitch. It's his father." The man sounded grim, but also somehow broken.  
  
Xena cursed. "We need to call his lawyer. Call Melanie."  
  
"Fuck Melanie. I'm calling someone else." And he disconnected the call.  
  
Back at his loft, Brian punched a few numbers into his phone, and waited impatiently for an answer. He heard a smooth professional voice greet him, and he cut her off. "Bunny Happenshatz. Tell her it's Brian Kinney and it's an emergency."  
  
The voice sounded prim. "If you can tell me what this is about, I can have Ms. Happenshatz's assistant contact you about an appointment…"  
  
Brian's voice was like a razor made of ice. "It's about a teenaged boy who was kidnapped. I think she'll take the call."  
  
A few minutes later, Bunny came on the line. "Brian? I thought Justin was safe with you, what's going on? Don't tell me you've found another teenager?"  
  
God, as if one wasn't enough trouble. "Justin was declared an emancipated minor this week, and his father fought it, wanted him put in one of those gay conversion centers in Arizona. I think he just snatched him off the street."  
  
Bunny sighed. "Come in. I'll see what we can do. But this time, Brian? Larry King. No excuses like you had with the Stockwell thing."  
  
Brian agreed, and hung up the phone, wishing he'd ripped Craig's throat out when he'd had the chance. He left the loft, running down the stairs, trying not to think of Justin, held prisoner by a bunch of fanatical right wing Christians, electrodes attached to his beautiful dick.  
  
Come to think of it, he thought as he started the Corvette, ripping out Craig's throat was too good for him. He was going to cut off his dick and stuff it down his throat.  
  
After they found Justin. He refused to say "if," or even think it. 


	4. Chapter 4

  
  


**Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter Four**  
By Xie  
  
Bunny Happenshatz drummed her long, polished nails on the surface of her gleaming and immaculate desk. "Brian, I don't know what to tell you. We can't find a single trace of him in Arizona."  
  
She held the phone out from her ear for a minute, while Brian shouted at her. It had become a daily ritual, as the search for Justin continued to come up empty, despite all the investigators she'd put on it.   
  
Bunny sighed. "Brian… Brian. Be quiet and listen to me."  
  
The man fell silent. Bunny knew it wouldn't last, so she spoke quickly. "We have twelve investigators looking for him. We've offered a huge reward, and the last three investigators tend to use tactics I'm not entirely comfortable with…" she held the phone out for a second while Brian yelled at her that he wasn't in the slightest bit interested in her comfort… "and yet, nothing. There are only two facilities we have left to rule out." Her voice softened. "We're coming close to a dead end."  
  
There was silence on the other end of the phone, and when Brian finally said something, his voice was flat. "Fuck you." And he hung up.  
  
Bunny gave another sigh, put her phone down, and then picked it up again. "Susan? Get me Craig Taylor."  
  
_____________________________________________________  
  
Brian stood in his loft, holding his cell phone. He put it carefully on the kitchen counter, and shoved his hand through his hair. Then he picked up the phone and threw it, hard, against the wall.  
  
Fuck Craig Taylor, he thought. Fuck Craig and Jennifer and every sanctimonious right wing religious asshole who could ever believe that anyone as perfect and beautiful as Justin needed changing. Fuck them all.  
  
He stalked into the bathroom to shower, but when he got there, the memory of Justin's pale body, slippery with soap, standing under the stream of hot water, tortured him. He felt the now-familiar pain of his ongoing and extremely resistant heartburn problem, which he definitely was talking to his doctor about as soon as he found Justin.  
  
Brian pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a fresh t-shirt, shoved his feet into a pair of shoes, grabbed his leather jacket, and left the loft. A minute later, he came back in, picked up his phone from where it lay on the floor, and flipped it open. It still worked. He put it in his pocket and left, this time for good.  
  
When he pulled up in front of Craig's house, he was surprised to see Bunny's car. He got out cautiously, and the minute he did, she got out, too. Her long legs, encased in over-the-knee Manolo black suede boots, swung out the door of her Maserati, followed by the rest of her. She was wearing a black tweed slit skirt and a chocolate brown cashmere sweater, and had a faux leopard skin coat dripping off her shoulders.  
  
At least, Brian assumed it was faux.  
  
"I knew you'd show up, Brian. Craig's not here." She stood fearlessly in front of him.  
  
Brian's eyes narrowed. "Oh? And why is that?"  
  
Her voice was calm. "Because I told him to get lost. He has no idea where Justin is. We've been looking in the wrong places. I'm sure of it now."  
  
Brian raised an eyebrow, and Bunny nodded. "I heard from the last of my investigators. Brian, we've turned every ex-gay conversion center in the United States inside out. He's either been taken out of the country – and I'm not aware of any ex-gay conversion centers anywhere but here, isn't America wonderful? – or he's been taken by someone else, for some other reason. We're wasting our time here, and you're risking arrest."  
  
Brian snorted. "The police chief is practically my stepfather."  
  
Bunny nodded. Since Chief Stockwell's disappearance, veteran homicide inspector Carl Horvath, the husband of Brian's almost-mother Debbie Novotny, had replaced him. No one knew where Stockwell had gone – no one except those who had been there when Xena had turned Callisto's magical spell against the two of them, imprisoning them, hopefully forever, in the bottle that had been Gabrielle's prison for thousands of years, and Justin's for a much shorter but still very traumatic period.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Bunny said. "I'm your attorney and I'm telling you: stay away from Craig Taylor. This man has no idea where Justin is, and if we're going to find him, we have to stop chasing down dead ends."  
  
Brian turned and sagged against Bunny's car. Her eyes flickered to her shining paint job, but she didn't say anything. It had probably had worse things resting on it, she thought, than Brian Kinney's denim-clad ass.  
  
The tall ad exec turned his eyes to her. He looked haunted. "Where is he, Bunny?"  
  
The lawyer put her hand on Brian's arm. "I think we need to talk to Xena."  
  
Brian's head jerked up, and he looked at Bunny, startled. Then, slowly, he nodded. Xena. Xena would know what to do.  
  
_____________________________________________________  
  
Gabrielle was cheerfully mixing the ingredients for a big Greek salad. Well, that's what Xena said it was. It didn't taste or look like anything she'd ever eaten in Greece, and the only ingredient she actually recognized was cheese. But it was food and she was hungry, so Gabrielle happily chopped and tossed and mixed the dressing, while Xena stared moodily at the interior of the refrigerator.   
  
"Are we out of beer?"  
  
Gabrielle smiled sunnily at the tall architect. "You don't need beer. You need something nutritious."  
  
Xena snorted. "Do I look malnourished?"  
  
Gabrielle let her eyes sweep over the lush frame of her lover. Her expression got very soft. "No," she said. She blushed a little as her gaze lingered on Xena's full breasts. "Not really. No."  
  
Xena's eyes locked on Gabrielle's, and she gave a very small smile. "Well, I guess I can eat some salad. Since you made it."  
  
The two women were feeding each other bits of feta and lettuce by hand when the buzzer sounded. Xena ignored it, but it rang insistently a minute later, and then a minute after that. She cursed, and stalked over to the intercom. "What?"  
  
"Let me up." It was Brian's voice.  
  
Xena shook her head, but pressed the buzzer. She started to turn to tell Gabrielle, but the blonde had materialized at her elbow. Xena jumped a little. "You've got to stop doing that."  
  
Just then Brian arrived at the door, and Xena let him in.  
  
The brunet stalked over to the windows, and turned and faced the two women. "We've looked in every ex-gay center in the United States. He's not there. We've been looking in the wrong places. Bunny says his father has no idea where he is." He swallowed. "You have to help me find him. I don't…" he fought for control of his voice… "I don't know where to look."  
  
Gabrielle, her eyes troubled, went over to Brian and put her hand on his arm. He folded his lower lip into his mouth, and steadfastly didn't look at the girl.  
  
Xena's eyes had narrowed, and she was looking intently at Brian. She walked over to the table, sat down, and started eating her salad.  
  
Gabrielle looked at her in amazement. "Xena! Aren't you going to do something?"  
  
The brunette nodded. "I'm going to finish my lunch. And after that, we're going tracking."  
  
"Tracking?" Gabrielle looked blank. "You can't track a trail this old. Justin's been gone for three days. It's rained since then."  
  
Xena finished her salad. "Not that kind of tracking." She wiped her lips with a napkin, pushed her chair back, and stood up. "Let's go."  
  
Brian looked blank. "Where?"  
  
Xena smiled grimly. "First, the bank. We need money. Lots and lots of money."  
  
Brian stared at her for a minute, and then, almost imperceptibly, relaxed. "Good thing I have lots and lots of money."  
  
"Isn't it?" Xena was still smiling while she walked to the door, grabbing her leather jacket from the back of a chair. She gestured Brian ahead of her, and then turned to the blonde behind her. "Come on, Gabrielle."  
  
_________________________________________  
  
The three of them had been wandering around the alleys and streets of the neighborhood where Justin disappeared for hours. It was almost 2 in the morning, and Brian was starting to despair. No one knew anything, and no one cared. Not even the large sums of cash he was offering for information got them anywhere.  
  
They were down near a seedy hustler bar, the well-washed cars of the slumming suburban dads parked among the dumpsters and sacks of refuse. Brian leaned against a rough brick wall, defeated. A kid hesitated in front of him. "You like young dick?" he asked Brian, who glared at him, and opened his mouth to tell him to fuck off.  
  
Just then, Gabrielle grabbed Xena's arm. "That's him!"  
  
It was the greasy-haired street thug who'd helped create what Gabrielle now knew was a diversion to let Justin be snatched off the street. She sprinted towards him, Xena on her heels.   
  
Spotting her, the boy dashed into the shadows on the other side of the building. Xena suddenly let out a full-throated battle cry, launched herself into the space between them, and brought him down in one leap. She jerked him up with her when she stood, and held him roughly by his shoulders.  
  
Her eyes glittered dangerously. "Your continued well-being, in fact, your continued existence itself, means absolutely nothing to me," she informed him. "Where is Justin?"   
  
Brian swallowed a choking sound, but Xena ignored him. She held the gaze of the greasy-haired kid until his eyes shifted away from hers. "I… I don't know," he said, but even he didn't sound convinced.  
  
Xena smiled, and it was feral. "I hate liars."  
  
The kid's eyes snapped back to her blue ones, and he paled under the layer of grime on his face. "Let go of me. You have no right to fuck with me, you're not my fucking mother or a fucking cop, so let me the fuck go." He glared at her.  
  
Xena laughed, then pressed her face close to his, so close she could smell his stink and his fear. "You really, really don't want to make me mad. When I get mad, people die."  
  
He shifted his gaze to Brian, and then to Gabrielle, who nodded sadly. "It's true. I keep telling her peace is the way, but she just keeps… " Gabrielle twisted her hands like she was breaking a neck… "killing people who piss her off."  
  
The kid swallowed, and looked back at Xena. He stared for a minute at her madly glinting eyes and manic smile. "Fuck." He shook his head. "You're Xena, aren't you?"  
  
"How the hell do you know that?" Xena looked even more dangerous, and her eyes narrowed.   
  
He tried to act tough. "I worked for Callisto. You think I don't know all about you?"  
  
Suddenly, Brian hurtled himself at the kid, gripping him by his hooded sweatshirt, and pulling him tightly into his face. "Where is Justin, you motherfucking asshole? Tell me, or I'll…"  
  
Gabrielle firmly but gently pulled Brian away while Xena resumed her hold on the thug. Her smile was gone, but her tone was pleasant. He shivered when he heard it. "Pay attention."  
  
Faster than he could see, her hands flew out and stabbed at his neck. He felt a sharp pain, and then a strange numbness. A dizzy sensation built up in his head, and he turned panicked eyes to Xena. She smiled again.  
  
"I've just cut off the flow of blood to your brain. Either tell us where Justin is, or you'll be very, very dead very, very soon, and no one, absolutely no one, will miss you."   
  
He stared at Xena, and then nodded. Her hands flashed at his neck again, and he gasped, drawing in a deep lungful of air. "I don't know where he is, but I can help you find someone who does."  
  
"And who's that?" Xena had taken hold of his shoulders again, and gave him a sharp jerk. "Who?"  
  
The boy looked at her, defiantly. "He used to be a cop. That was… before Callisto got to him." He looked at his feet, then back at Xena. "His name is Ethan. Ethan Gold."  
  
Xena, Gabrielle, and Brian all looked at each other, confused. Gabrielle turned back to the boy. "Ethan Gold? What does he want with Justin?"  
  
The kid shook his head. "I don't know. He just said he'd pay me good money to create a diversion, and I did."  
  
Brian's lips were tight. "I have a fairly good idea," he said, his eyes dark and dangerous, "what officer Gold wants with Justin."  
  
Xena nodded grimly. "And he's had him for three days."  
  
Gabrielle looked from Xena, to Brian, and back again. She got very pale. "Oh, no."  
  
Xena let go of the thug's shoulder. "What's your name? And don't lie."  
  
"Hunter."  
  
Xena laughed. "Great name for what we're about to do. Well, Hunter, let's go find this Ethan Gold."   
  
As the four of them moved away from the bar's back door, a man stepped out of the shadows of a nearby building.  
  
Ares, God of War, the man Brian and Justin knew as "Erik," stared down the street as Brian, Xena, and Gabrielle disappeared into the darkness woth Hunter. "Yes," he thought to himself. "Let's find this Ethan Gold."


	5. Chapter 5

  
Author's notes: Upon careful consideration, apparently many things were broken during the writing of this story, and Brian really better see someone soon about that heartburn problem.  


* * *

  
  
**Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter Five**  
By Xie  
  
Justin strained against the ropes binding his wrists and ankles, wishing for the thousandth … no, the millionth… time that he was completely deaf.  
  
The violin music stopped on a discordant note. It had started that way, too, so at first Justin didn’t realize it meant Ethan had stopped playing. He opened his eyes just enough to get a quick view through his thick golden lashes.  
  
Ethan was staring at him, his bow still against the strings. Justin closed his eyes again. Not since he’d been stuck in the bottle with Gabrielle had he been so frustrated.  
  
Well, other than when every time Brian tried to fuck him, he’d get pulled back into the bottle before Brian got his dick inside him, but other than those, this was the worst. Or when Callisto had him chained to the ritual altar, although he didn’t remember too much of that. Or possibly when he was chained to the bed at the police station…   
  
He really had been tied up a lot lately, Justin thought to himself.  
  
The music resumed.  
  
For the last three days, Ethan had been doing nothing but playing violin music and trying to feed Justin chocolate and champagne. At first the defiant captive had refused everything, but hunger and thirst had finally taken their toll, and he’d reluctantly accepted a few bites of candy and sips of champagne. Ethan had tried to kiss him, but he always managed to shut his lips and turn his head. He’d sworn to himself he’d never kiss anyone on the mouth but Brian.  
  
Brian. The very thought of the older man made tears well up in Justin’s tightly closed blue eyes. Would he ever see him again, or would he die here, the sound of screeching strings the last thing he’d hear?  
_________________________________  
  
Brian followed Hunter down a dark alleyway, with Xena and Gabrielle close behind.   
  
“Quiet,” the greasy-haired hustler hissed. The three of them froze, waiting for a signal.  
  
He finally gestured them into a narrow opening between two buildings, and then pressed his hand against a rough brick wall. A gap appeared between some of the bricks, and with a small grinding noise, enough of the wall shifted inward that they were just able to slip through.  
  
It closed behind them with a loud noise, but no one flinched or even seemed to notice.   
  
“If Ethan has your boyfriend, he has him down here somewhere.” Hunter had started moving down the dark hall as if he was familiar with its every twist and turn, which he probably was since given his general pallor and pastiness he almost certainly lived underground.  
  
“He’s not,” said Brian, “my boyfriend. I don’t do boyfriends.”  
  
He couldn’t see anyone’s face, but he was fairly sure he heard Xena snort. He frowned.  
  
“I don’t think this is the time for semantic debates.” Gabrielle sounded firm and slightly disapproving. He thought he heard Xena snort again, but she didn’t say anything.  
  
Brian felt the air on his face get cooler, and he saw a dim light ahead. Hunter stopped them with an extended arm. “Okay, we have to split up here. There’s about a dozen branches, and I don’t know where he’s got your boyf… friend. We’ll have to search each one.”  
  
“Right.” Xena’s voice cut like a contemptuous knife. “We’re going to let you split us up.” She pulled Hunter to her with one strong arm. “All of us together, one branch at a time.” She gave him a little shove. “And you go first.”  
  
Hunter mumbled something that Xena ignored, and led them down the dark hallway furthest to their left. A number of times Brian could hear the flowing of water or roar of traffic far overhead, and twice they passed other figures pushing by them in the dark halls.   
  
What felt like days but was probably only nine or so hours later, Brian, Xena, Gabrielle, and Hunter were sitting in a small circle back where they’d begun. They had searched everywhere Hunter led them, but hadn’t seen any sign of Justin. Brian’s mind had begun to circle like a caged animal, going from nightmare scenario to nightmare scenario of the blond boy’s taut young body tied to an altar or chained to a bed, scenarios that he had no trouble picturing since they’d already happened to the teen, and recently, too.  
  
“We have to find him!” The words were torn from his throat.  
  
Gabrielle put her hand on his arm. “We will.” She turned to Xena. “I’m worried about Justin’s post-traumatic stress disorder.” Her voice stumbled over the unfamiliar modern medical terminology. “This can’t be good for him after everything he’s been through lately…”  
  
Xena sighed, rubbed the bridge of her nose, stood up, and yanked Hunter to his feet.   
  
He flew up with a yelp. “Hey! Don’t put the pinch on me again, I don’t know where he is! Honest!”  
  
The tall woman stared into Hunter’s eyes for a long time, but finally let him go with a jerk. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.” She stared off into the darkness.  
  
Brian walked a short distance away from the group, and rested his forehead against the dank walls. He was surprised to notice his heartburn flaring up, even though it had been several hours since he’d had anything to eat. He jerked when he felt someone touch him.  
  
“We’ll find him.” It was Gabrielle, her small hand firm on his shoulder, her voice comforting and certain. “Xena will find him.”  
  
Brian turned around and looked down at the petite Amazon, then shook his head. “When? And what’s happening to him while we look?”  
  
Her eyes looked into his, troubled.  
  
_________________________________  
  
Justin had stopped testing the bonds that held his hands and feet. Ethan’s training as a police officer had come in handy for his new career as a kidnapper, he thought to himself. Fucker.  
  
He was alone, the room dimly lit only by candles that one by one guttered out. Soon the room would be lost to darkness.  
  
Justin tipped back his head and ordered the tears not to form.  
  
He heard the door open, and refused to open his eyes or even move. He sensed Ethan moving near him, and smelled something sickly sweet… roses? And then it began again, the nightmarish scraping of bow on violin strings.   
  
Justin drew a deep, shuddering breath, and tried not to listen.  
  
_________________________________  
  
Brian jerked his head upright. “Did you hear that?”  
  
Xena was gazing down the same hallway, her eyes alert. “I heard it.”  
  
Gabrielle and Hunter looked at each other. “What is it?”  
  
“I don’t know.” Xena’s eyes narrowed as she listened. “It sounds like… cats. Being tortured.”  
  
“Oh, no!” Gabrielle cried. “Xena! We have to do something!”  
  
“Wait here.” The tall woman moved confidently towards the sound. Just as Xena’s footsteps faded into silence, Hunter made his move.  
  
Only to land flat on his ass, Gabrielle’s foot on his throat. He looked up at her, but her eyes were still fixed on where Xena had vanished moments before.  
  
Brian stood in the darkness, listening to the eerie screeching sounds coming from the dark corridor, feeling his heart pounding and then the burning of his acid reflux or esophageal paralysis or whatever the fuck was causing this chronic burning pain in his chest. He sighed.  
  
A few minutes later, Xena returned, her face streaked with grime and her jacket torn. “I think,” she said, “I know where Justin is.”  
  
Gabrielle closed her eyes for a second, then opened them. Xena was looking down at Hunter, frowning. “He tried to escape?”  
  
Gabrielle glanced down, and lifted her foot off Hunter’s throat. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about him.” He sat up, rubbing his neck and scuttling backwards until he was against the wall.  
  
“Fuck you,” he rasped at Gabrielle.   
  
Xena rolled her eyes. “Better men than you have died trying.”   
  
“Can you duel over her fucking honor later? Where’s Justin?” Brian was glaring.  
  
Xena ignored him. “Follow me.”  
  
She jerked Hunter up, then shoved him down the hall in front of her. Brian could feel the slope of the ground beneath his feet, leading deeper into the bowels of Pittsburgh. With every step the screeching sound got louder. After a few more steps, when the sound was at its loudest, Xena stopped and slipped her shoulder into a gap in the wall that was all but invisible. If it weren’t for the noise escaping it, no one would have noticed it.   
  
Xena pressed against the two sides of the wall and they parted enough for Gabrielle to shove Hunter through, and then follow. Brian took over for Xena while she went after the blonde and the hustler, and then let the gap close again behind him as he moved into the musty space behind the wall.  
  
Xena grabbed the back of Hunter’s hoodie and yanked him backwards, stopping Brian and Gabrielle with a gesture. “Brian, try that door and see where it goes. Gabrielle, keep an eye on Hunter while I try the other entryway.”  
  
The blonde nodded and put her hand flat on Hunter’s chest, holding him immobile against the wall. Xena disappeared down the passage to the right, and Brian went left, feeling for the doorway along the wall with his hand.  
  
He felt air move on his skin, then heard the screeching music crescendo then resume at a slower tempo, just as his fingers found the crack. He waited, but he didn’t hear the music falter. He slid the door open just enough to let a sliver of light escape, and looked inside.  
  
_______________________  
  
Back in the corridor, Gabrielle kept a steady pressure on Hunter’s chest with her hand.  
  
“Why are you even keeping me here?” he said. “It’s not like I know where Brian’s boy toy is anyway. I already took you everywhere I know. I didn’t even know this place was here.”  
  
“Because Xena told me to.” Gabrielle’s voice was pleasant but implacable.  
  
“Do you always do everything she says? Lame.”  
  
The blonde smiled. “Not always. But at times like this, I’ve learned not to ask a lot of stupid questions.”  
  
Hunter contemplated her words in silence, since the pressure of her fingers on his sternum had intensified with each one.  
  
Xena re-appeared. “That was a dead end. Is Brian back yet?”  
  
Gabrielle shook her head. “Should we follow him?”  
  
“Not yet. Let’s give him a few more minutes.”  
  
“You should let me go.” It was Hunter.  
  
Xena barely glanced at him, and didn’t say anything.  
  
“I’m no help, and it’s a waste of Gabrielle’s time to guard me.” He sounded very sincere.  
  
Xena snorted. “And you’d be back in half an hour with a few friends.”  
  
Hunter shook his head. “Not a problem, dude. I have no friends.”  
  
Xena ignored him. “I’m going after Brian.” She glanced at Gabrielle. “Bring him.”  
  
The three of them moved in the direction Brian had disappeared earlier. When Xena felt the edge of the door, like Brian, she slid it open just a crack. When she didn’t see or hear anything, she opened it a little more. She finally opened it all the way.  
  
The room was dimly lit by dozens of candles. There was a chair with rope tied around the arms and legs. There was an open door at the far end. There was a violin lying on the table, with a discarded bow across it.  
  
And there was blood trailing from the chair to the doorway, and no one anywhere to be seen.  
  
_____________________________  
  
When Justin had seen Brian in the doorway at the end of the room, he had to bite hard on his tongue to keep from crying out. He kept his eyes closed as much as he could without completely cutting off his vision.  
  
Brian’s face showed anguish for a second, but it was rapidly replaced with determination. Justin watched the taller man’s gaze narrow as he located Ethan, who was playing by the far doorway, his back momentarily to them both.  
  
Brian calmly walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Ethan spun around, shock on his pallid face.  
  
Brian hit him in the jaw, and Ethan went down like a tree being felled in a particularly brutal clearcutting operation in the Pacific Northwest.  
  
Brian strode to Justin’s side and unfastened the ropes holding his wrists to the chair. “Fuck, Justin, why, why does everyone keep fucking tying you up and chaining you to shit?”  
  
Justin threw his suddenly-freed arms around Brian’s neck, and Brian forgot the question with the touch of the teen’s soft lips. He kept working at the bonds on Justin’s legs, and when they were free, he brought his hands up to Justin’s hair and buried them in the silky locks.  
  
They finally broke apart gasping for air, and Brian touched his forehead to Justin’s. “Xena and Gabrielle are outside. Let’s go.”  
  
Justin pressed against Brian, his eyes closed, and nodded. Just as his eyes opened, he saw something – a shadow, a movement – and the next thing he knew, Ethan was swinging at Brian with a champagne bottle.  
  
Justin cried out “No!” and Brian moved at the last minute, but the bottle still hit him, shattering and leaving a bloody gash on his forehead.   
  
Brian’s eyes registered momentary shock, and then he turned on Ethan, who got even paler under his shock of greasy hair. The former police officer started to stammer and walk backwards. Brian went after him, pausing for a second to shake the blood out of his eyes.   
  
Ethan turned to run, and Brian followed him, but felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He knew he needed to apprehend and restrain Justin’s erstwhile captor, but he staggered and almost fell. He felt Justin’s arm slipping around his waist, and he shook his head again.  
  
Ethan vanished out the door, and Brian felt the dizziness pass. He sprinted after the other man, Justin behind him.   
  
The door led to a passageway that branched off in the opposite direction from the one Xena had been exploring. Brian hesitated, but the passage dead-ended at the room they’d just left, so there was nowhere else to go. Holding Justin’s hand in his, he set off after Ethan.  
  
A few minutes later, the passage branched off in three directions. “Fuck,” Brian said, and dropped Justin’s hand. “Fuck fuck fuck.”  
  
Justin nodded, and leaned against Brian’s side. “We should go back and find Xena.”  
  
Brian turned around and wrapped his arms around Justin, resting his cheek on the teen’s hair. Even though he could barely see it, he could feel its softness under his skin.   
  
The terror and grief of the last few days welled up in Justin then, and he pulled Brian’s face to his frantically, kissing the taller man until their lips burned. He pressed his lithe body against Brian’s, and for the first time in three days, Justin felt his cock start to harden.  
  
Brian hadn’t gone three days without having sex since… well… the last time Justin disappeared, but he didn’t want to think about that so he didn’t. He just let himself thrust against the blond teen, desire spiraling through them both. Slowly he walked Justin to the wall, and pressed him back against it.  
  
He lowered his mouth to the tender pink ear peeking out from between the golden strands of Justin’s hair. His voice was just a whisper. “Turn around.”  
  
Justin turned against the wall, and felt Brian fumbling with a condom behind him. A minute later he felt Brian’s hard cock pressing against his ass, and he arched his back and sighed happily.  
  
Unfortunately, he sighed too soon. Just as Brian pressed deeply into his tight channel, he felt the wall in front of him shift and move. He fell forward, Brian on his back, and then both of them plunged into absolute darkness, rolling downward, sharp stones digging into their skin as they fell.  
  
They landed hard at the bottom of what felt like stairs. Justin wasn’t sure if his eyes were open or closed. The darkness was utter. He glanced back they way they’d fallen, but the door must have closed behind them, because there was not even a crack of light.  
  
He shivered, and reached for Brian next to him. He felt the older man’s warm skin, and gripped him tightly. “Brian.”  
  
There was no answer. Justin felt a knife of fear cut his heart. “Brian?”  
  
Justin leaned over him, hands frantically feeling for Brian’s face in the darkness. He felt his hair, and felt the sticky blood that covered it.  
  
Brian didn’t move.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
Xena was standing on the sidewalk outside of the alley where they’d entered the underground passageways. She had her cell phone pressed to her ear. Gabrielle was standing next to Hunter with deceptive casualness. Hunter wasn’t deceived, and didn’t even try to move.  
  
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying! Brian went after Justin, and now he’s missing, too.” Xena held the phone away from her ear as Brian’s lawyer, celebrity defense attorney Bunny Happenshatz, cursed Brian Kinney in highly colorful language for quite some time. Xena herself was in perfect agreement with her, but finally cut her short.  
  
“What do we do now? I have no idea where they are or who has them, and all things considered, I’m not sure getting the police involved is the best idea in the world.”  
  
Bunny sighed on the other end of the phone. “Yes, this isn’t time for a ‘the policeman is your friend’ approach. If I learned anything while representing Jim Stockwell, it’s that the Pittsburgh PD is not exactly a chapter of the Brian Kinney fan club.”  
  
Xena didn’t know the full story, but she knew enough to agree. Any police department that promoted Callisto to a high management position was not likely to be a bastion of law and order.  
  
____________________________________  
  
Justin’s hands were shaking as he fastened his pants and then Brian’s. He held the older man close in the darkness, stroking his face and hair, trying not to cry. Every few minutes he softly said Brian’s name, but between attempts to rouse him, he just did his best to keep him warm.  
  
After a long time, he pressed his lips against Brian’s chest, and, vaguely comforted by the feeling of Brian’s heart beating, fell into a troubled sleep.  
  
He didn’t know how long he was curled around Brian in the dark and cold. One minute he was sleeping, dreaming about violin music and fighting cats, and the next the room was full of a harsh, unnatural light. His blue eyes flew open, and he gasped when he saw the man from the gym… Erik… lounging against the wall. A short woman with wild hair stood next to him; the light was flooding from her hands and head, and Justin blinked in confusion.  
  
“Well, well,” Ares purred, walking towards where Justin cradled the still-unconscious Brian at the foot of the stairs. “I was looking for some Xena bait, and it seems I’ve found it.”  
  
Justin pulled Brian tighter in his arms, and looked from the tall man’s amused face to that of the woman next to him. Ares leaned down and grabbed him by the arm, and even though Justin clung to Brian with all his strength, the stronger man easily dragged them apart.   
  
Justin struggled and fought, kicking out at Ares. He heard the woman say, “Stupid boy,” and the next thing he knew, he was falling in the darkness again, turning over and over and over.  
  
And then he didn’t know anything at all.


	6. Chapter 6

  
Author's notes: The underlying structural soundness of Pittsburgh was not broken during this story.  


* * *

  
  
**Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter Six**  
By Xie

Justin woke up with his head throbbing in agony. The pain intensified when he sat up, heart pounding. Where was Brian?

The room was dark, and cold, and no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn’t see anything. He reached out his hand, and felt a jolt of electricity in his arm as he made contact with a body. Brian. He knew, somehow, it was him.

He carefully got onto his knees and felt for Brian’s head. The other man didn’t move, but Justin felt his chest moving as he breathed, felt his heart beating slowly. Feeling tears well up in his eyes, the teen curled his body around Brian’s, trying to give the unconscious man his warmth.

At least, Justin thought as he fell back into a troubled sleep, I’m not tied up.

___________________________

Gabrielle paced from one end of Xena’s loft to the other. Periodically she stopped, stared into the distance, opened her mouth to say something, then shook her head and resumed pacing.

At first Xena ignored her. Eventually, though, however hard the architect stared at the information on her computer screen, ignoring her became impossible. “Gabrielle. What are you doing?”

The blonde stopped and looked at Xena as if she’d forgotten she was there. “Trying to think of where Justin and Brian are.” She wrinkled her nose. “I mean, more precisely than ‘somewhere under Pittsburgh.’”

Since that was exactly what Xena was doing, albeit with slightly more technologically advanced methods, the older woman didn’t say anything more. She went back to her laptop. Gabrielle went back to her pacing.

A half an hour later, an exhausted Amazon dropped onto the sofa. Just then, Xena looked up. “I found it.”

“What?”

The architect got up and walked over to the sofa, laptop in hand. “Look at this site on the history of Pittsburgh. I remembered it from a class I took when I was in school.”

Gabrielle had been taking a computer class at the GLC, but hadn’t gotten much beyond learning how to open the lid and push the “start” button. She stared at the screen as Xena slowly pointed out the system of tunnels and dens under the streets of the city, particularly one area near where Brian and Justin had disappeared. “I think they’re here, somewhere.”

Maps were something Gabrielle understood. She let her eyes follow the twists and turns, and finally nodded. “But who’s holding them?”

“You won’t like it.”

Gabrielle snorted. “Yeah, I’ve liked everything else so far. That’ll be a real change.”

Xena looked at Gabrielle, then turned her eyes away. “My guess is Alti is behind this.”

Gabrielle looked at Xena, her eyes full of a lifetime of memories, memories of pain, suffering, and having mendhi designs painted all over her body. “I thought we’d broken that karmic cycle.”

“So did I.” Xena drew a deep breath. “I guess we were wrong.”

The architect got up and paced to the window, and stood staring out. “There’s something more, though. I just don’t know what. It’s just a feeling I have. I still can’t believe Alti would work through Callisto. Why, and why her? Is she working through someone now, or does she have Brian and Justin?”

Gabrielle walked up behind her. “We’ll find them, Xena. And you’ll defeat Alti. Just the way you always have.”

Xena gave a short nod, her eyes dark and unreadable. “So far.”

Gabrielle let her hand gently squeeze Xena’s arm, then rested her forehead against the taller woman’s shoulder. “Maybe we should take a nice hot bath.”

________________________________________

______  
  
Justin was wandering the streets of a city he didn’t recognize, full of people in strange clothing. In his arms was a small wooden chest, with words he couldn’t read carved on it.  
  
He stopped at a stone well, and a blonde woman lifted her eyes to him, and smiled. It was Gabrielle, and he tried to say something to her, but no words would come out. Just then he dropped the chest, and it broke open at his feet, spilling gold coins and jewels on the dusty ground.  
  
Gabrielle was helping him scoop everything back into the chest, and Xena was helping her. But no matter how hard Justin tried, he couldn’t get them to understand what he was trying to tell them, that Brian was hurt and cold and needed help.  
  
Finally he grabbed at Gabrielle’s wrist, and forced her to look directly into his eyes. “You have to find Brian,” he said, thinking the words as he said them. “He’s hurt.”  
  
Gabrielle smiled and shook her head as if she couldn’t understand his words, and stood up, holding the chest. She was trying to tell him something, but he felt himself fading away, falling back into the room where he and Brian were held.  
  
Justin woke up, shivering from the sweat on his skin and the cold floor. He opened his eyes, or thought he did; the blackness was so total it made no difference. He put his ear over Brian’s heart once more, and tried to sleep again, reassured by the steady beat.  
  
The beat swelled up all around him. He could feel it in his feet, pounding up through his legs and into his hips and ass. He moved with it, dancing, Brian’s hands pulling him close. The taller man was kissing him, one hand gripping the back of his waist, the other tangled in his hair.  
  
Brian had his knees bent, and their crotches were pressed together. Justin wound his arms around Brian’s neck, and let him lift him off his feet, still kissing him. Brian was carrying him somewhere, and when he let Justin slip down and stand on his own again, they were in a dark room, a strange blue light illuminating everything.  
  
There were men everywhere, kissing and sucking and fucking each other. Justin felt his face flush, but Brian didn’t stop kissing him. He felt the man’s hands move to open his pants, and then felt them on his hips, firmly trying to turn him against the wall.  
  
Justin let his head fall back, and turned to kiss Brian. But when he opened his eyes, he saw men staring at them, starting to move closer. The one nearest them looked familiar, muscular, tall, with eyes that cut right through Justin. He looked familiar, and Justin realized it was Erik, the man from the gym, and Babylon. There was something else about him… something about pulling him away from Brian… but Justin couldn’t remember.  
  
Brian’s hand closed on Justin’s cock just as his own cock nudged at Justin’s hole, and the boy gasped at the dual sensations. He closed his eyes again, spreading his legs and pushing back to let Brian know he wanted him.   
  
But just as Brian’s dick slid past the tight opening to his ass, he felt the room start dissolving all around them, the blue light turning white and misty. He tried to stop it, he tried to say something, but all he could see was brightness, and all he could feel was cold.  
  
______________________________  
  
Xena lay back against the side of the tub, Gabrielle tucked between her long legs, a mountain of sweet-scented bubbles piled around them. They seemed to do their best communicating there.  
  
And other things that Xena tried not to think about, out of respect for Brian and Justin who were probably not having a very good time right about then.   
  
Gabrielle lifted her arm out of the fragrant froth and ran a sponge down it slowly. “We should call Brian’s lawyer.”  
  
Xena watched the path of the sponge and then blinked. “What? Bunny Happenshatz? Why?”  
  
“She might be able to figure out a way to get us access to the passages under the city without getting the police involved.” Gabrielle moved the sponge to her other hand, and started cleaning her other arm.  
  
Xena wrapped her legs around Gabrielle and pulled her more snugly against her crotch. She rested her lips against the girl’s blonde hair, and kissed her softly. “I’ll call her. Later.”  
  
Gabrielle wriggled against Xena, dropped the sponge into the water, and pulled the older woman’s hands onto her breasts. “Later,” she agreed.  
  
_______________________________  
  
Justin woke up with the words “nice hot bath” ringing in his ears. And he’d have liked nothing better at that moment than to get into a nice hot bath with Brian. The older man was still unconscious, and the floor and walls were cold and damp. Every time he felt Brian shiver or moan, he pressed his lithe young body against him, trying to will warmth into him.  
  
“How touching.” It was Erik. Or whoever he was. He had a torch in his hand that gave off an oddly steady light. He stuck it into a bracket in the wall and strode over to Brian and Justin.  
  
Justin didn’t answer. The last time Erik had pulled him away from Brian... Tears filled his eyes at the thought of Brian lying on this floor without him. He buried his face in Brian’s chest and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.  
  
Ares pulled him to his feet like he was picking up a kitten. Justin struggled, but it was useless. He finally just stood glaring at him, his upper arm held in the muscular man’s grip.  
  
“You short blonds are all alike.” Ares sounded amused.  
  
Justin’s eyes narrowed, but he still didn’t say anything.  
  
Ares ran a fingertip along Justin’s rigid jaw. “So beautiful.” He sounded thoughtful.  
  
Justin jerked his chin away, his pupils dilating.   
  
Ares laughed and let his hand brush through Justin’s hair, and Justin jerked away again.  
  
The dark-haired man brought up his free hand, and wrapped it around the back of Justin’s neck. He pulled the teen against his body as hard as he could, and Justin could feel his cock pressing against his stomach.  
  
“Stop it.” Justin was surprised at how strong his voice sounded.  
  
But Ares just chuckled, and cupped Justin’s ass with both his hands. “Don’t want to play?”  
  
Justin looked up at him. “I’m not,” the boy said, “a toy.”  
  
Ares threw back his head and roared with amusement, and let Justin go. The blond went and knelt next to Brian again, his back to Ares.  
  
Ares crouched next to him, and looked thoughtfully at Brian. “He’s badly injured.”  
  
Justin touched Brian’s face. He knew it was true.  
  
“He might die, down here.” Ares looked sideways at the boy. “You could help him.”  
  
Justin whipped his head around. “Let him go. You said you wanted Xena bait? Use me. Take Brian to the hospital, or at least put him out on the street where someone might find him.” He willed his blue eyes to stay locked on Erik’s unreadable gaze.  
  
A faint smile danced over Ares’ mouth. “And if I do?”  
  
“I’ll do anything you want.” Justin’s voice wasn’t uncertain or even desperate. It was like steel.  
  
Ares suddenly felt a rush of anger. “What is it with you feisty little blonds and your great loves lasting until the end of time?”  
  
Justin shook his head. He had no idea what Erik was talking about.   
  
Ares walked to the far wall, then back again. He stood looking down at Justin, at his blond hair falling across his flushed cheeks, his blue eyes, his soft mouth. Only that still-tense jaw line betrayed the boy’s anxiety for the man lying unconscious next to him.  
  
Ares regretfully shook his head. “I can’t do that, Justin. As much as I’d like to… play with you.” He grinned, his teeth glinting white against his swarthy, handsome face. “Even if you’re not a toy.”  
  
Justin sank back on his heels, defeated. “Then what do you want? I don’t understand why you need Brian.”  
  
Justin swore he saw Erik’s head turn towards the door before he heard the crashing sound.   
  
“Yes, Ares, I’m curious, too.” It was Xena, her hair pulled back off her face, and what looked for all the world to Justin like a sword in her hand. “What a comedown for the mighty god of war, holding an unarmed teenaged boy and an unconscious man with no fighting skills prisoner for a dirty shamaness with ratted hair and jewelry made out of bones.”  
  
God of war? Justin had no idea what Xena was talking about.   
  
But Ares’ eyes were looking at Xena admiringly. “It’s true that I’ve fallen, Xena. But I’ll climb back up again, and I’ll do it over the dead bodies of a hundred unarmed teenaged boys and unconscious civilians, or dirty shamanesses, if I have to.” He smiled. “But I’d rather do it with your help, and you at my side.”  
  
Xena smiled back, and her teeth gleamed in the light of the torch. “All these thousands of years, and you still don’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer? You’re a slow learner, Ares.”  
  
Ares shifted his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “Speaking of unarmed men.”  
  
Xena laughed. “Naked with one hand tied behind you, Ares, you’re never unarmed.” She made a gesture with her chin towards Brian and Justin. “If they were bait, they worked. Let them go.”  
  
Ares shrugged. “Unfortunately, that’s not going to fit in with my plans.”  
  
She sneered. “Your plans? Or Alti’s? And are you sure you know what her plans really are?”  
  
“I know what my plans are, and as long as her plans work with mine, I’m happy enough with our… alliance.”  
  
Xena flicked her sword on Ares’ upper arm, leaving a small slice in the black t-shirt covering his straining bicep. His jaw twitched, but he didn’t move.   
  
Xena smiled again. “Alliance? Is that what you call it? I bet she’s got another word.” Her sword brushed over him again, leaving a nearly identical slash in the other arm of his shirt. “I’m guessing she thinks more of you as her pawn. Her tool. Just like Callisto was.”  
  
“Callisto’s unstable. She always has been.”  
  
“Yes, she is. But she’s also a god.” She once more tipped him with her sword, this time leaving a tiny bloody cut on his cheek. She stepped back as he lunged at her. “Unlike you.”  
  
Justin rolled over Brian, trying to herd the man with his body against the wall. Erik… Ares had hurtled himself at Xena, and was trying to wrestle the sword out of her grip. She suddenly let loose with an ululating cry, and Justin wanted to cover his ears. But he didn’t, because Brian’s eyes fluttered open. They looked blankly at Justin for a second, and then closed.  
  
Justin felt his heart thudding in his chest. He kissed Brian’s mouth, and spoke against his lips. “Brian… wake up. Brian!”  
  
The taller man took a deep breath, and for a moment Justin thought he felt his lips press back against his. Brian’s hazel eyes opened again, and this time Justin saw recognition and awareness in them before they closed. He held Brian’s hand in his, and clung to it tightly.  
  
Ares and Xena had fought to a standstill near the door. Justin watched her move backwards, never faltering even though the much-larger Ares was pressing her hard. Then Justin wrinkled his nose. Was that a light from the hallway?  
  
Xena seemed to see it, too, and stepped back into the doorway. “Oh, by the way, Ares. I forgot to tell you. Welcome to reality.” She grinned. “Reality TV, I mean.”  
  
Brian’s attorney, Bunny Happenshatz, bustled in the door, a cameraman and reporter behind her, CNN’s logo emblazoned on their equipment. “This way, Anderson,” she was saying, a big smile on her face. “We found them!”  
  
Ares stared at Bunny, her wine-red patent leather pumps gleaming in the torchlight, and her long leg flashing out of the thigh-high slit in her charcoal gray Armani skirt. “What the…”  
  
Anderson Cooper shoved the microphone into Ares’ face. “What are you doing here with these missing men? How long have you had them here?”   
  
Gabrielle strolled in behind the camera crew, and Xena casually walked up to her and kissed her. “Thanks.”  
  
“No problem. Bunny did it all.”  
  
Bunny smiled at the two women. “Anderson and I are old friends. He was in town, and when I told him you’d found the missing teenager, well… he’s a reporter. He knows a good story when you shove him into one face first.”  
  
Ares had watched Xena cross to Gabrielle’s side. He stood motionless for a minute, ignoring the news crew, playing his few options out in his mind. Despite what Xena might think, he wasn’t quite as unarmed as she thought.  
  
A loud, sharp noise made everyone grab at their ears, and a flash of light blinded them temporarily. Xena shook her head and recovered her sight and hearing first, and leaped for the spot where Ares had been.  
  
But he was gone. And he had Justin with him.  
  
 _To be continued..._


End file.
